Cambridge Past Paper Questions
Browse 23,045questions from 25 years of O-Level & A-Level exams. Click any question to practice.
Two wires P and Q are made from the same material. Wire P is initially twice the diameter and twice the length of wire Q. The same force, applied t...
To determine the mass of food in a pan, a scale is used that has high sensitivity for small masses but low sensitivity for large masses. To do this...
The amplitude of a wave is A and its intensity is I. Which amplitude is necessary for the intensity to be doubled to 2I?
Which value is a possible wavelength for radiation in the ultra-violet region of the electromagnetic spectrum?
The diagram shows two tubes. [Figure showing two tubes, X and Y. Tube X is closed at the bottom, open at the top. Tube Y is open at both ends.] The...
A microwave transmitter emits waves towards a metal plate. The waves strike the plate and are reflected back along their original path. [Figure sho...
A double slit experiment, using light of wavelength 600 nm, results in fringes being produced on a screen. The fringe separation is found to be 1.0...
The diagram shows a vertical uniform electric field in a vacuum. [Figure showing vertical electric field lines pointing downwards, and a horizontal...
A very small oil drop of mass m carries a charge +q. [Figure showing a charged oil drop suspended between two parallel plates. The top plate is neg...
Which electrical component is represented by the following symbol? [Figure showing an electrical symbol for a thermistor (resistor with a diagonal ...
When there is no current in a wire, which statement about the conduction electrons in that wire is correct?
A high-resistance voltmeter connected across a battery reads 6.0 V. When the battery is connected in series with a lamp of resistance of 10 Ω, the ...
A battery of e.m.f. 12 V and internal resistance 2.0 Ω is connected in series with an ammeter of negligible resistance and an external resistor. Ex...
A wire PQ is made of three different materials, with resistivities ρ, 2ρ and 3ρ. There is a current I in this composite wire, as shown. [Figure sho...
The diagram shows part of a circuit. [Figure showing a complex resistance network between points P and Q.] What is the resistance between the point...
The diagram shows a potential divider circuit. [Figure showing a potential divider circuit with an LDR and a fixed resistor in series across a volt...
Three resistors, with resistances R₁, R₂ and R₃, are connected in series and are found to have a combined resistance of 500 Ω. When connected in pa...
In the Rutherford scattering experiment, α-particles were fired at a thin gold foil. A small proportion of the α-particles were deflected through l...
Which statement about the nuclei of the atoms of an element is correct?
A counter recording radioactive decays from a radioactive source gives the following counts in equal intervals of time. [Table showing time/min and...
Which quantity can be measured in electronvolts (eV)?
What is the ratio 10⁻³ THz / 10³ kHz?
The following physical quantities can be either positive or negative. s: displacement of a particle along a straight line 0: temperature on the Cel...
A micrometer is used to measure the diameters of two cylinders. diameter of first cylinder = 12.78 ± 0.02 mm diameter of second cylinder = 16.24 ± ...
The speedometer in a car consists of a pointer which rotates. The pointer is situated several millimetres from a calibrated scale. What could cause...
The velocity of an object during the first five seconds of its motion is shown on the graph. [Figure 6.1] What is the distance travelled by the obj...
The variation with time t of the distance s moved by a body is shown below. [Figure 8.1] What can be deduced from the graph about the motion of the...
A golf ball is hit by a club. The graph shows the variation with time of the force exerted on the ball by the club. [Figure 9.1] Which quantity, fo...
A group of students investigating the principle of conservation of momentum use a small truck travelling over a frictionless surface. Sand is dropp...
An object of mass 20 kg is travelling at a constant speed of 6.0 ms⁻¹. It collides with an object of mass 12 kg travelling at a constant speed of 1...
Two possible displacements of an object are represented by the vectors P and Q. [Figure 12.1] Which vector best represents the resultant displaceme...
Two co-planar forces act on the rim of a wheel. The forces are equal in magnitude. Which arrangement of forces provides only a couple?
A trailer of weight 30 kN is hitched to a cab at X, as shown in the diagram. [Figure 14.1] What is the upward force exerted by the cab on the trail...
When a horizontal force F is applied to a frictionless trolley over a distance s, the kinetic energy of the trolley changes from 4 J to 8 J. If a f...
The kinetic energy of a vehicle of mass 1000 kg is 4.5 × 10⁵ J. It is braked with a total constant braking force of 6000 N. What will be its stoppi...
In many old-style filament lamps, as much as 92 J of energy is emitted as thermal energy for every 8 J of energy emitted as light. What is the effi...
What is the unit of power in SI base units?
In an experiment to demonstrate Brownian motion, smoke particles in a container are illuminated by a strong light source and observed through a mic...
A horizontal plate of area 0.036 m² is beneath the surface of a liquid of density 930 kg m⁻³. The force on the plate due to the pressure of the liq...
The graph shows the relationship between stress and strain for three wires of the same linear dimensions but made from different materials. [Figure...
The graph shows the effect of applying a force of up to 5 N to a spring. [Figure 22.1] What is the total increase in length produced by a 7 N force...
The following force-extension graphs are drawn to the same scale. Which graph represents the deformed object with the greatest amount of elastic po...
A wave that can be polarised must be
Which statement about electromagnetic radiation is correct?
The diagram shows two sinusoidal waveforms. [Figure 26.1] At time t = 0 the waves are in phase. At the dotted line, t = 18s. At which time is the p...
A sound wave is set up in a long tube, closed at one end. The length of the tube is adjusted until the sound from the tube is loudest. What is the ...
Two light sources produce visible interference fringes only in certain circumstances. Which condition enables visible interference fringes to be fo...
The diagram shows a pair of parallel metal plates 4.0 mm apart connected to a 9.0 V battery. [Figure 29.1] What is the electric field strength betw...
Which path shows a possible movement of an electron in the electric field shown? [Figure 30.1]
The diagram shows a non-uniform electric field near a positively charged and a negatively charged sphere. Four electrons, A, B, C and D, are shown ...